4Th Quarterlyprogressreport
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EUROPEAN UNION “Support to the Development of Agriculture Private Sector: Perennial Horticulture” (HPS) Project DCI-ASIE/2013/335-321 (Europe Aid/133-872/L/ACT/AF) TH 4 QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT, 01 OCTOBER - 31 DECEMBER 2014 SO2 Study Tour to AgFair Interpoma of Bolzano, Italy HPS 4th Quarterly Report, 11-Feb-15 List of acronyms used in the report: AAIDO Afghan Almond Industry Development Organization ANHDO Afghan National Horticulture Development Organization ANNGO Afghan National Nursery Grower Organization BoD Board of Directors CC Coordination Committee CHAMP Commercial Horticulture and Agricultural Marketing Program CPN Certified Production Nursery CU Central Unit CPG Citrus Promotion Group CTV Citrus Tristeza Virus FFS Farmer Field School FH PHDC Field Horticulturist FM SO1 Field Manager GA General Assembly IDEA-NEW Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for North, East, and West MAIL Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock MSN Mother Stock Nursery NC National Collection NGA Nursery Growers Association NHLP National Horticulture and Livestock Program NNGA Nangarhar Nursery Growers Association NVAC Nangarhar Valley Agricultural Company (ex-NVDA) NVDA Nangarhar Valley Development Association PBTL Plant Bio Technology Laboratory (Badam Bagh) PHDPII Perennial Horticulture Development Program PHDC Perennial Horticulture Development Center RI Relief International PPP Public Private Partnership project agreement SAGAL Strengthening Afghan Governance and Livelihoods ( SC Steering Committee SO Specific Objective TA Technical Assistance ToT Training of Trainers TL Team Leader This programme is funded by the European Union 2 | Page of 3 7 Pages HPS 4th Quarterly Report, 11-Feb-15 1. Executive Summary of the Quarterly Activities: SO1 activities included continued (in close coordination with PHDPII TA) institutional support to ANNGO for review of the ANNGO Bylaw. A Legal Advisor Nat’l Consultant has been mobilized to provide capacity building to ANNGO BoDs on legal issues and facilitate the revision process. The Dari and Pashto translations of the first draft version of the revised ANNGO bylaw were provided to the ANNGO Board of Directors in October. ANNGO board members had the opportunity to continue discussions and the review of the draft document. During the ANNGO BoDs meeting on 24NOV14 some changes were discussed with PHDP TA. By the end of the reporting period, the draft remained under discussion within the ANNGO board members. Future steps include the distribution of the final draft among the NGA chairmen and a training seminar on the new legal responsibilities for the board members and all NGA chairmen. This should take place just before the GA currently anticipated in late January. Twenty five (25) SO1 Field Managers (FMs) are recruited (and seconded to ANNGO) to support the NGAs and their national representative organization ANNGO in implementing the certification scheme as well as provide MSNs and production nurseries with technical support and advice. FMs mainly supported the NGAs with the certified sapling sales to NHLP and conducted field visits to certified production nurseries (CPNs) in order to collect certification documents and provide them with technical support. FMs provided ANNGO with the label requests and ANNGO after completing the necessary inspection process completed the distribution of the certification labels to the NGAs. Currently they are collecting the fees. The FMs performed capacity building trainings in five (5) NGAs where in total 72 NGA members participated and received training mainly on seed stratification, labeling and sapling handling. PHDP TA (with the assistance of SO1 team) reviewed the draft English version of the ANNGO 2014-15 Catalogue and provided their feedback to ANNGO for improvements. ANNGO initiated the translation process into Dari and Pashtu during December with anticipated completion in early January before the review and finalization of the files for printing. Printing is expected to take place in early February 2015 after the ANNGO GA. ANNGO requested HPS to support them with the cost of the publication and HPS will support ANNGO with the related costs. We initiated a survey of the nursery companies that are not currently operating under the ANNGO umbrella. The assessment is anticipated to be completed by March 2015. We will coordinate closely with ANNGO on this and present ANNGO with our findings / recommendations that shall enable them to finally decide on their future potential expansion. Moreover, we initiated a NGA marketing assessment that could permit them in the near future to potentially prepare business plans. This is a potential service that ANNGO could provide to the NGAs in the future. In cooperation with ANNGO, the agreement for the ornamental sector pilot project (under HPS/SO1) that they would like to implement in cooperation with the Baboor Garden Foundation was drafted. The signature of the MoU is pending the decision of the new board of Baboor Garden Foundation. Description of the National Collection and the adaptive research activities continued in the PHDCs (under the MAIL Directorate of Research authority and PHDPII TA supervision) with the continuous support of the SO2 team. We engaged in reviewing the adaptive research protocols and participated in the preparation of the 2015 annual plan for the research activities. Moreover, we participated in the preparation of final reports on the trials’ results. Adaptive research activities were on going. Cross pollination trials in the apricot (Amiri) accessions shall be discontinued with new accessions to be selected for self-fertility if not previously assessed. Statistical analyses showed that the dose for the Gibberellin treatment in Shundakhani grapes was non-significant and this trial shall be repeated next year in commercial grapevine orchard/s owned by grape growers linked with HPS/SO3 in Shamali. A new trial (14-07) regarding the comparison of different citrus varieties on a range of rootstocks in Jalalabad has started. Trial protocols and trial assessment forms have been prepared for this long term (multiyear) citrus variety x rootstocks trial. Completion of the registers for the different species in the national collections remained the priority in the technical programmes (including HPS) under the MAIL Directorate of Research authority and PHDPII TA supervision. Work was on-going including further data collection on accessions and verification of previously collected data. SO2 main activities focused on supporting the preparation for the Apricot Register publication. At the same time the Pomegranate Register started to get developed too with all involved stake holders waiting for the anticipated arrival of the SO2 Horticultural Research Specialist Int’l Consultant (Gregory Cullen) to finally review the English draft document in February. Both these Registers will be published within 2015. Moreover, we anticipate that further Registers on Apricot, Cherry, This programme is funded by the European Union 3 | Page of 3 7 Pages HPS 4th Quarterly Report, 11-Feb-15 and Plum may also be published within 2015 pending the progress of work and data evaluation. The national collection of Apple is starting to bear fruits and the descriptors were revised in Kabul. The Loquat is flowering in Kandahar and the format for the description was prepared and shared with the PHDC FH. The Study Tour to Italy (Rome, Faenza and Florence) was successfully concluded on 04OCT14 with the return of SO2 Project Manager, SO2 Senior Adaptive Research Assistant and an ANHDO Board member back to Kabul. The participants increased their technical capacity in germplasm management, nursery production under a certification scheme, fruit production and marketing, including sensorial evaluation etc. The Interpoma Bolzano International Trade Fair in Italy in late November was considered a great opportunity for PHDPII and HPS to organize another complementary (2nd) Study Tour; to Italy (Bolzano) for Naseer Omarkhel (PHDC Kabul Field Horticulturist) and Popal Bashir (ANHDO Board member, fruit trader and exporter) to visit the AgFair Interpoma and the agricultural area around the provinces of Bolzano and Trento which is the most intensive apple producing area in Europe. Participants departed to Italy on 19NOV14 and the tour lasted nine (9) days giving them the opportunity to increase their technical capacities on intensive apple plantations, production technology, farmer associations and the extension services which in this area is considered a sector state of the art. Regarding SO3 team, we have completed the distribution phase of the post harvesting & processing tools / improved packaging to four (4) grape farmer groups, three (3) raisin producer groups and one (1) prune producer group totaling 319 individual beneficiaries (out of initially 433 selected) in Qarabagh and Farza Districts of Kabul Province, Bagram district of Parwan province and Mahmood Raqi of Kapisa province. We produced the post-harvest manuals for fresh grape, prune and raisin. The manuals will be used by the technical team during the course of the project and as well for training purposes. The manuals include post-harvest and HACCP good practices, drying standards and post-harvest losses. Further manuals will be developed in relation to the fresh and dry fruits & nuts that we will finally work with during the project. One farmer from each of the final eight (8) farmers groups that attended the Training of Trainers (ToT) seminar in Kabul in September were employed